X- Factor Conversion
 

So I ended up with another truck last week, and decided to do something different with it.

The x-factor is a live axle, 4 link truck. It comes stock with a nitro motor, and a 2 speed auto shifting tranny with reverse. Mine did not come with a motor or electronics, but it was free, so I am fine with that.

My plan is to build a new emaxx tranny, with the wide ratio 2 spped in it. That way I can have a low speed crawling biased ratio, and still have some decent speed for bashing.

Going to run a 10xl, mm and a 4s lipo, or 5s2p a123. Probably going to stick with the lipo. I have everything sitting here, so I figured that I would put it to use. 4s on the 10xl will net around 25k rpm, so it should run cool.

I will post pics soon, should have my tranny parts here in a day or two!

Here are the speed calc results for my proposed setup:

1st gear (crawl ratio)

Differential Ratio: 3.3076923076923075
Transmission Ratio: 5.076923076923077
Other Ratio: 1
Spur Tooth Count: 46
Pinion Tooth Count: 16
Total Voltage: 14.8
Motor KV: 1668
Tire Diameter (inches): 5.75
Tire Ballooning (inches): 0
Motor Current Draw: 0
Motor coil Ω: 0.0114
Spur/Pinion Ratio: 2.88 : 1
Total Ratio: 48.27959 : 1
Tire Circumference (inches): 18.06 inches (458.83 mm)
Total Motor Speed: 24686.4 RPM
Vehicle Speed: 8.75 mph (14.05 km/h)
Estimated Adjusted Speed: 9 mph (14 km/h) - 1% loss

2nd gear (general bashing)

Differential Ratio: 3.3076923076923075
Transmission Ratio: 1.8333333333333334
Other Ratio: 1
Spur Tooth Count: 46
Pinion Tooth Count: 16
Total Voltage: 14.8
Motor KV: 1668
Tire Diameter (inches): 5.75
Tire Ballooning (inches): 0
Motor Current Draw: 0
Motor coil Ω: 0.0114
Spur/Pinion Ratio: 2.88 : 1
Total Ratio: 17.43429 : 1
Tire Circumference (inches): 18.06 inches (458.83 mm)
Total Motor Speed: 24686.4 RPM
Vehicle Speed: 24.22 mph (38.91 km/h)
Estimated Adjusted Speed: 23 mph (38 km/h) - 3% loss

Found an interesting product from Futaba. It is a servo reverser. I lets you run two servos of one channel and reverses one of them. It also has a pot to adjust the trim of the reversed servo. Plus i got it off ebay brand new for 20 bucks!

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXANF2&P=ML

Using this will allow for 4 wheel steering, which is a must cause this truck does not have much steering throw. Right now it has in-front of the axle steering, and I think that I will make a behind the axle setup for it. That way I can mount the servo to the axle on one side, and remove the factory servo mount, which will greatly help my approach angle!

Cool project! I used to have one of those trucks, and this is how far I got along to converting it. Had some damn good suspension articulation though.
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...X/DSCF0619.jpg

Picture Time!!
 

So I modified the truck for behind the axle steering. This allowed me to remove the large front servo mount, and move the links behind the axle for more protection. I also got rid of the servo saver. Steering is much better no, alot smoother than with the round spring style servo saver. Plus I have a much better approach angle, as the servo mount actually stuck out past the front wheels!

Basically just flipped the hubs so that the steering arms faced the rear, and fabbed up a link to tie them together, and another link to go from one hub to the servo arm. Made a L bracket to hold the servo, and attached the servo with servo tape and a zip tie. The servo just misses the chassis at full suspension compression. The long link that connects the hubs had to be slightly ben to clear the lower links, and the pinion. I may mod the hubs slightly to raise the link up a mm or two. If I can do that it will fit perfectly. Right now it lightly rubs on the lower links when the truck is fully articulated.

I plan to do the same with the rear steering, but I will leave the link behind the axle, as it will be easier to do. I will not have to worry about pinion clearance that way, and I can mount the cross link on top of the hub's steering arms to get it well off the ground. I will use the futaba servo reverser to link the two servos and provide trim for the rear servo.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2216.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2217.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2218.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2219.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2220.jpg

Everything is mocked up in the pics, and it works great, epa is set at 100% and the throw is perfect in both directions. I will get it running and then go back and tidy up all of the hand made parts, and most likely convert to hex hardware, as the philips stuff is not that great.

Got my tranny parts today! Need to get it built and installed! I also picked up some more threaded rod to make the rear steering linkages. I hope I get some time on Sunday to get it together, and I may get an evening to get some work done. My best friend came in from the military today, so I want to spend some time with him! He brought absinthe with him, so we will have fun if nothing else...

Absinthe?

Used to be illegal, and for good reason. It is mildly hallucinogenic, so if you drink enough, well, you ge the idea...

I bet you'd hallucinate I was there, I'd bet you'd like that!! KIDDING!! :lol:

You are most likely the last person that I would want to see, unless you look like Jessica Alba or Katherine Heigl...

You can guarantee I don't.

I had a feeling that you didn't.

Yup. Hey, I have a Hyper ST question, when you're assembling the steering system, that "nut" you have to tighten on with that spring you're pushing against, how do you do that when the force of the spring is pushing against you?

I use both hands when trying to apply force to the nut...

You can hold the lower part in a vise and then you can push the nut on with one hand and turn it with the other. That is how I have always done it. I do not have much feeling in my hands, as I burnt them very badly on a barbeque grill as a child...

:gasp:How? Well, I got the nut on... I'm assembling the steering rods right now.

Sounds like fun, I need to finish my hyper st...

More pics!
 

Got the emaxx tranny together and fabbed up some mounts for it. I also modded some revo driveshafts for the center drives. Used some of mike's 8mm pinion adapters to mate the revo sliders to the xtm diff. Everything fit together well and she rolls now!

I also had to trim the chassis to fit the motor and tranny. Note the extra 4 shocks where the canteliver links used to be. This truck has alot of articultion, and no binding! I still need to make the linkages and servo mount for the rear steering, and wire it up.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2229.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2230.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2231.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2232.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2233.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2234.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2235.jpg

Linc...that looks coooool!!! My friend is really into crawlers and would be so jealous of your rig...well done!:yipi:

Borat says, "Very Nice!"

Thanks, I aim to have some fun with it when I am done.

"I like", "How Much?"

"It hangs like sleeve of wizard..."

:rofl:

Borat is so cool!

BTW very nice conversion Linc!

"My wife's dead, high five!"

HAHAHA

It runs!
 

Got it all wired up and took it for a few test runs. I have not installed the rear steering yet, so it turns like a bus. I did put a hitec 85mg servo in to shift the tranny, mounted it under the chassis plate, and use a slightly modded old emaxx shift linkage.

Low gear is slow, like 7-8mph. And it has a ton of torque. High gear is much faster, at least 30mph. The truck is a bit unstable at that speed, but fun! I need to put the body posts back on and pick out a good body from my collection. I also think that the diffs could use some JB weld, as my mech locking job (rearranged the spider gears) sounds like it is slipping. Otherwise it runs great. I am looking forward to 4 wheel steering, and a proper battery tray. I used zipties to hold the battery for the test run, and that was not keeping them in place very well.

I used a pair of 2s 2200 airthunder lipos in series to run it. Mixed bashing, 60% of it in high gear got me 25 mins, not bad IMO. Temps were pretty good, the 10xl got around 140f, the MM was around 115-120f, and the lipos got up to 105f.

Nothing broke, but I did mange to bend a bolt that holds the shock to the canteliver. Ohterwise it ran well.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2236.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2238.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/DSCF2239.jpg

did you try crawling with it yet? very cool if it can crawl and then pull off the rocks shift into to high gear and haul some arse..

Yep, did a bit of both. It needs better tires, that is for sure. Otherwise it seems to work fine. Swaybars would help it handle better at speed, but they would limilt its crawling ability. I may gear it down a bit, as it is a touch too fast in high gear.

Too fast? I didn't know there was such a thing! :lol:

Very cool truck Linc. It looks like that will go through anything.

Yeah, funny that I of all people should say it is too fast! The suspension is soo soft that this truck will flip sideways on hard acceleration from a standing start. It will also lift the front right wheel easily, with half throttle. It is fun, I just need to get some better tires.